US: Nearly two years after she posed for photographs with naked and shackled detainees in the dusty Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad, Pte Lynndie England has been sentenced to three years in prison and given a dishonourable discharge from the US army.
The sentence fell in the middle of the range of punishments meted out against the nine original army reservists shown in photographs of abuse at the prison, with the "ringleader" of the abuse getting a 10-year sentence and one soldier who failed to report the maltreatment getting no jail time.
England apologised on Tuesday and told a military court she posed in the infamous photographs because her lover encouraged her. The army reservist, who has been characterised by the defence as a young, impressionable soldier who would have done anything that former corporal Charles Graner jnr asked, testified at her sentencing hearing at Ford Hood, Texas, that Graner had "used" her.
"After the photos were released, I've heard that attacks were made on US armed forces because of them," England said at the hearing. "I apologise to coalition forces and all the families," she said, also apologising to "detainees, the families, America and all the soldiers".
England (22), from West Virginia, has been at the centre of the abuse scandal because she appeared in some of the most shocking photographs, including one in which she held a leash tied to a naked prisoner's neck. Her lawyers argued she is being made a scapegoat for a broader policy of abuse that spread throughout the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan.
An army officer who has told members of Congress and a human rights group that vague policies from military leaders fomented abuse also spoke publicly for the first time on Tuesday. Capt Ian Fishback (26) said in an interview he believes the US army is examining his claims of command failures and unclear treatment guidelines mainly to punish low-ranking soldiers and not to explore whether top commanders bear responsibility. - (LA Times-Washington Post service)